The present invention relates to a process for the gasification of carbonaceous agglomerates in a reactor at a pressure of preferably 5 to 150 bar. In this process the agglomerates are fed into said reactor from a storage zone located above said reactor and form a fixed bed in the reactor with said agglomerates slowly descending in said fixed bed. At least two gasification agents selected from the group consisting of oxygen, air, steam and carbon dioxide are caused to flow upwardly through said fixed bed, solid ash or liquid slag is discharged below said fixed bed and a product gas having a high steam content is tapped from said reactor above said fixed bed.
The gasification of coarse-grained coal by fixed-bed methods is well known (cf. Ullmann, Enzyklopadie der technischen Chemie, 4th edition (1977), vol. 14, p 383-386). Details of the gasification process producing solid ash can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,540,867 and 3,854,895 and the provisional West German publication of Specification No. 2,201,278. The gasification process producing liquid slag is explained in British Pat. Nos. 1,507,905; 1,508,671 and 1,512,677. The references quoted herein above describe the gasification process which is also used for the gasification of carbonaceous agglomerates to which the present invention relates.